Car-coupling



(No Model.)

L. K. FULLER.

GAR COUPLING. v No. 372,462. Patented Nov. 1, 1887.

INVENTOR WITNESSES W I I By his Aflarneys,

0h EXfi/ZMW 1&

UNITE STATES PATENT Fries,

LEVI K. FULLER, OF BRATTLEBOROUGH, VERMONT.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 372,462, dated November 1, 1887.

Serial No. 235,206. No model.)

To ctZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEVI K. FULLER,.a citizen of the United States, residing at Brattleborouglnin the county of \Vindham and State of Vermont, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in GarCouplings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to linkandpin couplings, and its object is to provide a construetion of the draw-head which shall facilitate the guiding ofthe link into the opposite drawhead in coupling the cars.

\Viih the link-and-pin couplings heretofore used the operation of coupling cars is attended with great risk of personal injury to the man who stands between the cars and guides the link. It is usual to direct the link by means of the hand, and a crushing of the hand between the buffer-heads as they come together is of frequent occurrence. To avoid accidents of this character it is usual with railroad companies to require their men to use a stick of woodsuch as a broomstick or a rod-f0r manipulating the link; but this the men ordinarily neglect or refuse to use on account of the difficulty and inconvenience attending it, since, with the couplings as heretofore con structed, it is necessary to hold the stick or rod at arms-length, vwith no place to rest it.

My invention is designed to obviate this difficulty, to which end I provide the front face or buffer-plate of the draw-head with a ledge or ledges, to serve as fulcra or supports for a bar or lever, in order that the latter may be inserted at one side or the other, either under or over the link, in order to raise the latter or pry it down, as may be necessary, to cause it to properly enter the cavity in the opposite draw-head. I prefer to construct such ledges or supports by forming recesses in the front face of the draw-head on opposite sides-or a single recess on only one side may serve-sueh recesses or recess to be of sufficient depth to receive a bar or rod of such diameter as will afford the requisite strength for properly prying or manipulating the link.

The recesses formed according to my invention differ from those heretofore formed for other purposes in the front faces of drawheads, inasmuch as their margin or margins on one or both sides are of such shape and are so disposed relatively to the links as to admit of the insertion of a bar or lever of sufficient diameter either above or below the link, as the case may be, and to affordv a rest or support against which the bar or lever may react, in prying the link, without liability of slipping off.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is a perspective view ofa draw-head constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal mid-section of a draw-head showing the coupling-pin elevated. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the opposite drawhead, showing the link in place and the pin dropped; and Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the drawhead with the link in place, illustrating the method of lifting the link by means of a bar or lever.

Let A designate the draw-head as a whole, its construction being in general substantially the same as that of the draw-heads now commonly used with linkandpin-couplingsthat is to say, it is formed with an integral and uninterrupted or undivided front face or buffer-plate, D.

Bis the coup1ing-pin,and O is the link, both being of the usual construction.

The front face or buffer'plate, D, of the drawhead is partially cut away or recessed at E E, on one or both sides, in order to provide room for the insertion of a bar or lever with which to pry the link up or down, or to otherwise manipulate it. The recesses E E are carried baekwardly farther at the extreme sides of the draw-head than in the portions thereof closely adjacent to the iinlecavity, as clearly shown, in order to afford sufficient room for working the linkmanipulating bar or lever, not only up or down, but also in forward and backward direction, even when the two opposite drawheads are in contact with one another face to face. It follows that the overhanging flange of the front plate of the draw-head is bent or curved backward at the side, in the manner shown in Fig. 3. At the bottom of each recess E is formed a ledge, c, which serves as a fulcrum or re-enforce for receiving the reaction of the link-manipulating bar when the latter is used to pry up the link, as denoted in Fig. 4, where b designates the link-manipulating bar or lever. This bar may be an iron bar or rod, or any convenient wooden bar, such as a broomst-ick. These ledges e e are preferably formed by means of cavities or recesses of semi-cylindrical form extending in horizontal direction, as clearly shown. This shape facilitates the insertion of the bar or lever beneath the link. Any other suitable form may, however, be given to these ledges.

In case it should be necessary to pry the link downward, this is provided for by the formation of the recesses E E at their upper part, 'where a partial hook, a, (best shown in Fig. 1,) is formed close above the link-cavity and at each side thereof, and from which hooks the cavities extend upward obliquely, as best shown in Fig. 4. The hooks a a serve as fulcra for the manipulating-bar when using,

the latter to press down the link, and the oblique upward extensions of the recesses afford the necessary room for moving the bar, as denoted by the dottedlines in Fig. 4, which show the position of the bar when pried upward to its farthest position.

The draw-head is provided, as usual, with an incline, 0, cut in its front face for the purpose of directing the advancing end of the link upward and into the link-cavity.

The cutting away or recessing of the front face of the draw-head, according to my invention, does not impair its efficacy as a buffer, since enough of the buffer-face is retained to effectually receive the thrust. The flat portions (1 d below and (1 above constitute the buffer-face.

It must not be inferred from the .particular description hereinabove given that my invention is limited in its application to the precise construction described and shown, since this is subject to considerable modification. For example, it is not essential that the recesses E E shall be on both sides of the draw-head, since a single recess on one side might answer. The ledges e and a, instead of being formed by the opposite sides of a recess E, may be independently formed, each being a recess or projection by itself. Either of these ledges may be omitted and the other he used alone. When the coupling-pin B is elevated, it is held up by means of a gravity pawl or dog, G, which is pivoted at g and plays within the cavity of the draw-head. \Vhen the pin is raised, this dog falls forward beneath it, as shown in Fig. 2, 'and thus holds it up until the entering link strikes the dog and presses it back until it clears the pin, whereupon the latter drops through the link,- thus automatically coupling the cars. The pin R is kept from being raised entirely out of the drawhead by means ofa small pin or screw, f, inserted into the rear side of its lower end, as shown in Fig. 2, so that it encounters the top of the cavity in the draw-head when the pin is raised to its highest position. My invention is not limited to the particular construction of automatic coupling here shown.

What I claim as my invention is, in a linkand-pin coupling, the following-defined novel features, substantially as hereinbefore specified, namely:

l. A draw-head constructed with an undivided buffer plate, formed with a ledge at its side to form a fulcrum for receiving the downward thrust of a lever used for prying the link upward.

2. A draw-head constructed with an undivided buffer-plate, formed with an overhanging shoulder or book at its side to form a fulcrum for receiving the upward thrust of a lever used for prying the link downward.

3. A draw-head having its front face or buffer-plate formed with semi-cylindrical cavities extending horizontally across it and constituting ledges or fulcra for the link-manipulating bar.

4. A draw head constructed with an undivided buffer-plate, formed with recesses on opposite sides for admitting the insertion of a bar for manipulating the link, the said recesscs forming overhanging ledges or partial hooks adjacent to the upper margin of the link-cavity and extending from said ledges obliquely upwardly and outwardly in order to afford room for the upward movement of said bar in prying the link downwardly.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

LEVI K. FULLER.

\Vitnesses: LUTHER W. HAWLEY, J. EDWARD I'IALL. 

